In anticipation of World of Coffee in Amsterdam, a delegation of Peruvian coffee producers paid a visit to the most important players in the Belgian coffee sector. With the support of the Commercial Office of Peru, the mission of in total 9 cooperatives and companies met with potential clients and key partners with the goal of making contact for future collaboration and to have a better insight in the European market for Peruvian coffee. In addition, they presented their new national coffee brand “Coffees from Peru”.
On Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th of June, the cooperatives AICASA, COOP PICHANAKI, PERUNOR EXPORT, CHACRA D’ DAGO, APROAGRO LIMCOF, PROGRAMA FAMILIA, COOP ECOFOREST, COOPERATIVA CAFETALERA CEPRO YANESHA and LA FLORIDA explored the opportunities on the Belgian market. The roadshow kicked off with a visit to the Antwerp-based coffee trading company 32 Cup, specialised in the sourcing of specialty coffee. They have clients all over Europe and have a lot of experience with Peru. After this, the delegation visited the offices of the Coffee Team, another Antwerp-based trader, which is specialised in conventional coffees from all over the globe. The Port of Antwerp offered a luncheon to the delegation at noon, during which the delegation was informed about the latest state of affairs in the coffee trading in the Port of Antwerp and were introduced to representatives of the coffee trader Briz Coffee, the coffee roaster De Draak and the trader Coffee Trading Agency. In the afternoon a visit was paid to the warehouse of C. Steinweg in the Port of Antwerp. The program of the first day was finished with a meeting and cupping at Pelican Rouge in Antwerp.
The second day started with a visit to Frères Rucquoy, a family company of traders which was founded almost a century ago. At lunchtime the delegation was invited to the roastery and experience center of The Java Coffee Company in Rotselaar where they were offered a meal and a visit to the roastery by the CEO and president of the Royal Federation of Belgian Coffee Roasters, Mr. Wim Claes. The final stop of the roadshow was at the brand-new coffee bar MadMum in the city centre of Leuven which had its official opening earlier this day.
During the meetings, the Peruvian coffee professionals were able to discuss the potential of Peruvian origin coffee with the Belgian traders, roasters and barristas, as well as the tendencies in the certified coffee range and the challenges of building a sustainable business relation between Peruvian suppliers and Belgian buyers.
“This Mission of Commercial Intelligence and Matchmaking in Belgium is key for our coffee sector, being Antwerp the largest port of entry for green coffee in Europe”, states Rosario Pajuelo, Director of the Commercial Office of Peru in Belgium (OCEX Bruselas) from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru (MINCETUR). “Connecting Peruvian exporters and producers with buyers (traders and roasters) of the mainstream (conventional coffee, fair trade and organic coffees) and those of niches (for specialties coffees with more than 84 points in a cup) helps them to better understand the requirements of the market, not only in terms of quality but in terms of compliance with contracts, as well as assessing the strong weight that nowadays the consumers give to social traceability. And Peru meets the expectations of young generation that look for guaranties for traceability. Peru, in indeed, a country of small farmers organized in cooperatives”, says Rosario Pajuelo adding that “definitely, market knowledge is essential to grasp market opportunities”
Peru is the 7th largest coffee producer in Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, India and Honduras. In an area of 425,000 hectares of coffee plantations throughout Peru, 224,000 families depend economically on this crop, mainly in the departments of Junin, San Martin, Cajamarca, Cusco and Amazonas.
About the Commercial Office of Peru
The Commercial Office of Peru in Brussels is part of the ministry of foreign trade and tourism (MINCETUR) of Peru and is in charge of the promotion of Peruvian exports to Belgium and Belgian tourism and investments in Peru. They support Peruvian exporters with market information and put them in contact with the right partners. Additionally, they are the contact point for Belgian importers who have questions or requests relating to imports from Peru.
